Machinery for separating ore



(No Model.)

R. H. RICHARDS. MACHINERY FOR SEPARATING ORE.

No. 429,154. Patented June a, 1890.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ROBERT H. RICHARDS, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

MACHINERY FOR SEPARATING ORE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 429,154, dated June 3, 1890.

Application filed June 10, 1889- Serial No. 313,785. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, ROBERT H. RICHARDS, of Boston, in the county of Suifolk and State of Massachusetts, a citizen of the United States, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Ore-Separating Machinery, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to that class of apparatus ordinarily employed for separating or washing ore or analogous substances in a'comminuted form by agitating them in water, and thereby producing an assortment or grading by the different specific gravity of the component parts of the mass worked on. These devices, ordinarily known as jigs, comprise a hollow frame with a sieve-formed bottom and a surrounding water-containing vessel, within the water held in which the frame and sieve with its load of ore may be moved up and down rapidly, and thereby the ore or other material upon the sieve be loosened or separated, so that the particles of the mass may eventually assort themselves by reason of their different specific gravity.

The object of my invention is to make certain. improvements in the construction of these devices whereby they will be adapted automatically to bring about the assorting and distributing by gravity of various grades of material, each grade being distributed by its own weight, as hereinafter more fully set forth, and each after its assortment being prevented from intermixing with the other.

In the accompanying drawings is represented a device of the character above described, in which my present improvements are embodied in the form now best known to In the drawings, Figures 1 and 2 are views in vertical section and elevation of the appa- Fig. 3 is a plan view of the apparatus; and Fig. 4:,a View in perspective of the sievebox, as will be hereinafter more fully described.

The specific form of apparatus represented in the drawings is one for the treatment of metallic ore, and is adapted to produce from a body of mixed ore five classes of material.

As will, however, hereinafter appear, the apparatus may be modified to produce a greater or less degree of classification, as may be de* sired.

In the drawings, A represents the sievebox. This is preferably constructed, as heretofore, of a wooden frame of suitable height having a perforated or sieve-formed bottom. As is well known to persons conversant with apparatus of this character, the mesh of this sieve-bottom is determined by the character of the material to be worked upon, which is placed within the sieve-box.

The sieve-box, with its contents, is caused by means of appropriate mechanism-as, for example, eccentrics and connecting-rods, as shownto be rapidly vibrated or moved up and down within the water contained within the chamber or tank 13. In practice this upand-down motion should be extremely rapid and, to obtain the best results, of a limited range. The effect of thus agitating the body of ore upon the sieve within the body of water is to separate or loosen the particles of the mass, so that they may arrange themselves vertically according to their specific gravity, the heaviest material being at the bottom. So much of this material as can pass through the sieve will do so and fall to the bottom of the tank. The material which does not so pass through the sieve is automatically removed therefrom and collected in another part of the tank, but without possibility of again mingling with that portion which has passed through the sieve. To accomplish this I subdivide the bottom of the tank B into chambers, in this instance five, the apparatus shown in the drawings being intended to divide the ore into five classes, known, respectively, in the art as coarse rich discharge, coarse middlings, fine rich hutch work, fine middlings hutch Work, and tailings. These five chambers are indicated, respectively, at D and D in Fig. 3, H and II in Fig. l, and T in Figs. 1 and 3. It is obvious that the downward motion of the sieve-frame, with its load of ore within the water in the surrounding tank, tends to drive or force the water outwardly toward the sides of the tank. On the other hand, the return motion of the sieve-frame tends to draw water inwardly toward the middle of the tank. The crosscurrents thus produced, especially in rapid working, interfere materially with the successful operation of the apparatus in assortin g and distributing its load. To obviate this difficulty, I employ what I call a sand-tight joint or seal, the function of which is to prevent the passage inward beneath the sieve of material which belongs outside, and, conversely, the passage outward of material which having come through the sieve should properly go into the chamber below it. The walls of these chambers where they are adjacent to the sievc-fra me consist of diaphragms extending upwardly below the sieve-frame, and the sand-tight joint or seal above mentioned is formed between such a diaphragm and the wall of the sieve-frame which lies over it. For this purpose I prefer to construct this sand seal in the form of a pair of thin wings or plates, preferably of sheet-iron, and well represented at a, Figs. 1. and 2, which together surround at all times the upper part of the partition-wall, (represented in those iigu res at 1),) which is also preferably formed of sheetiron. As will be perceived, this sand excluding joint allows the sieveframe to be moved up and down, and still prevents the escape or passage of any of the solid substances from one compartment into the adjacent compartment, as explained.

- To assist in distributing the material remaining in the sieve, I form within the sieve frame an inverted dam or cross-partition extending down nearly, but not quite, to the sieve. So much of the heaviest material as cannot pass through the sieve will work along under this'partition (represented at P in the drawings) and will be collected between the partition and the adjacent walls of the sieveframe.

At a suitable point in the wall I provide an outlet or aperture 1) or 19*, (best shown in Figs. 2, 3, and 4,) through which the ore so collected as it rises may pass outwardly and then downwardly into one of the chambers D or D I may also form a solid or imperforate partition extending from side to side of the sieve-frame across the sieve, as shown at 1, Figs. 3 and I. This partition, being made of less height than the walls of the sieveframe, as shown, will practically convert the frame or jig into two, so that, the stream of ore coming into the frame on one side of the partition and being there j igged, so much of it as is sufliciently light will rise above the level of and pass over the dam or cross-partition I and berejigged upon the sieve on the other side of the partition. Further, as will be seen, one wall or side of the sieve-frame, as at A, is made lower than the rest, so that the tailings or lightest product may pass over the top of this wall A into the chamber T.

I will now describe the operation as ordinarily performed of treating a body of ore with the apparatus shown in the drawings. The ore is fed in the ordinary manner in a stream of mixed ore and waterinto the sieveframe in the space included by the partition P, the cross-dam I, and the adjacent; walls of the sieve-frame, and is there jigged or violently shaken up and down. The fine rich hutch work, so called, passing down through the sieve is collected in the compartment II, from which it may be drawn off when desired by the outlet 71., Fig. The coarse rich discharge, passing along the screen and under the inverted dam P, is collected in the chamber 1 and, rising therein, is discharged through the outlet 11 into the receiving-compartment D, from which it may be drawn off in like manner through the outlet (2. The residue of the ore, passing over the top of the dam I, goes upon that portion of the screenframe in closed by the dam I, the inverted dam P,and the side wall an d tail-wall A of thesieveframe. Here it is again jigged, the fine middlings hutch work passing down through the sieve in to the chamber ll, provided, as before, with an outlet 7r. The coarse middlings pass under the inverted dam P up into the chamber I, and thence outwardly through the discharge-outlet 19 Fig. 4, into the chamber D and the tailings or lightest material over the tail-wall into the chamber T, these chambers being also provided with outlets (Z t.

Inasmuch as the introduction of the cross dam I requires two compartments II II under the sieve, itwill be noticed that, as shown in Fig. 1, a sand-joint is provided between the dividing-wall of these compartments and the sieve below the cross-dam in addition to the sand-joints which separate the chamber II from the chamber T and the chambers D and D and also the sand-joint between the chamber II and the chamber D.

The introduction of the cross-dam I is desirable, because of the rejigging and the increased number of distinct products thereby obtainable. In like manner several crossdams parallel to I maybe placed in the sievebox, each with its appropriate I) compartment, and the compartments beneath may of course be multiplied correspondingly, if necessary.

I claim- 1. In combination, a tank, a sievebottomed frame vertically movable therein, an inverted dam extending across the frame and partitioning off a portion thereof, an outlet from the part so partitioned off, a chamber or compartment formed in the tank below the said outlet and with which it communicates, and sand-excluding joints between the frame and adjacent walls of the said compartment.

2. In combination,a tank, asieve-bottomed frame vertically movable therein, an inverted dam extending across the frame and partitioning off a portion thereof, an outlet from the part so partitioned off, a chamber or compartment formed in the tank below the sieveframe, a similar compartment below the said outlet, and sand-excludin g joints between the frame and adjacent walls of said compartmcnts.

3. In combination, a tank, a sievebottomed frame vertically movable therein, one or more dams across said frame and subdividing the same, an inverted dam crossing said subdivisions and partitioning oft portions thereof, outlets from the portions so partitioned off, chambers in the lower part of the tank, below the subdivisions of the frame, and other chainbers below the outlets from said partitioned portions, and sand-excluding joints between said frame and adjacent walls of the said COIllpartments.

4:. In combination, the sieve-box A, having a tail-wall A, the cross-dam I, and partitions P P, forming chambers P P outlets p p from the said chambers, other chambers H, H D, D and T in the lower part of the tank, and sand-excluding joints betweenthe sieve-box and the adjacent walls of the lastnained chambers, the said sand-joints consisting of Wings a, depending from the sieveframe and surrounding the upper portion 1) of the said walls, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto subscribed my name this 3d day of June, A. D. 1889. 1

ROBERT H. RICHARDS. Vitnesses:

ELLEN B. TOMLINSON, GEORGE O. G. COALE. 

